Guide
General Chat
Have open-ended AI conversations for brainstorming, questions, and creative work.
General chat lets you talk to AI without needing a notebook or sources. It’s perfect for quick questions, brainstorming, and conversations that don’t require specific documents.
When to Use General Chat
General chat is best for:
- Quick questions that don’t need document context
- Brainstorming and ideation
- Writing assistance (drafts, editing, feedback)
- Learning and explanations
- Code help and debugging
- Creative tasks
Use notebook chat instead when:
- You need answers from specific documents
- You want citations to verify information
- You’re researching with uploaded sources
Getting Started
Open General Chat
Click AI Chat in the main sidebar (outside any notebook).
Start a Conversation
Type your message and press Enter or click Send.
Continue the Conversation
The AI remembers your conversation history. Ask follow-up questions naturally.
Features
Web Search
Add current information from the internet to your conversations.
- Click the globe icon at the bottom of the chat input
- The icon turns blue when active
- Ask your question
- The AI searches the web and includes results in its response
Web search is useful for:
- Current events and news
- Recent statistics and data
- Verifying facts
- Finding up-to-date information
Web search is per-message. Toggle it on before sending a message that needs web results.
Model Selection
Choose which AI model powers your conversation.
- Click the model selector at the bottom of the chat
- Browse available models
- Select one to switch
Different models have different strengths. See Models for details.
Conversation Management
Create new conversations to start fresh topics.
Click the conversations button → New conversation
Switch between conversations to return to previous topics.
Click the conversations button → Select a conversation
Your conversations are saved and persist across sessions.
Message Actions
Every AI response includes these actions (visible on hover):
| Action | What It Does |
|---|---|
| Copy | Copy the full response to clipboard |
| Regenerate | Get a new response to the same question |
| Thumbs up/down | Provide feedback on the response |
Regenerating Responses
If a response isn’t quite right:
- Hover over the message
- Click the refresh icon
- The AI generates a new response
This uses the same question but may give different results. Useful when you want alternative phrasing or a different approach.
Writing Effective Prompts
Be Clear and Specific
| Less effective | More effective |
|---|---|
| ”Help with my email" | "Write a professional email declining a meeting invitation" |
| "Explain AI" | "Explain how neural networks learn, for a beginner" |
| "Fix this code" | "This Python function returns None instead of the sum. What’s wrong?” |
Provide Context
Give the AI relevant background:
- “I’m writing a blog post about productivity…”
- “I’m a beginner learning React…”
- “This is for a formal business presentation…”
Ask for Specific Formats
Request the format you want:
- “Give me a bullet-point list”
- “Explain in 2-3 paragraphs”
- “Write this as a step-by-step guide”
- “Format as a table comparing options”
Iterate
Don’t expect perfection on the first try:
- Start with your initial request
- Review the response
- Ask for adjustments: “Make it shorter” / “Add more detail” / “Make the tone more casual”
- Continue refining until you’re satisfied
Thinking Stages
Like notebook chat, general chat shows thinking stages so you can see what the AI is doing.
Common stages:
| Stage | What’s Happening |
|---|---|
| Processing | Understanding your question |
| Web Search | Searching the internet (if enabled) |
| Generating | Creating the response |
Click on thinking stages to see more details about each step.
Tips for Better Conversations
Use Follow-ups
The AI remembers your conversation. Build on previous messages:
You: Explain the concept of compound interest.
AI: [explanation]
You: Now give me an example with real numbers.
AI: [example with calculations]
Set the Stage
Start with context that applies to the whole conversation:
You: I’m preparing for a job interview at a tech company. Help me practice answering common questions.
Ask for Alternatives
Get multiple options to choose from:
“Give me three different ways to phrase this introduction”
“What are some alternative approaches to solving this problem?”